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Report: Calls For More Security In Benghazi Went Unanswered

Reuters reports that an internal memo indicates the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was under constant pressure in the months leading up to September's attack that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, and that the U.S. State Department had denied requests for additional forces on the ground.

According to the memo, U.S. security officer Eric Nordstrom “stated that he sent two cables to State Department headquarters in March and July 2012 requesting additional Diplomatic Security Agents for Benghazi, but that he received no responses.”

In this week's edition of Boise Weekly, on newsstands today, former U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, who served as ambassador to Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan, says that he experienced several attacks on American strongholds, including his own residence in Damascus in 1998.

"You focus on the needs of the moment," said Crocker. "When an attack occurs, you think about what you have to do to defend the mission. Nobody is thinking about being hurt or killed."

Crocker also remembered Stevens, saying his death "was like losing a family member."

"He was smart, experienced and always ready to put his hand up to go to the hard places," said Crocker. "[Stevens' death] was a huge, huge loss to the Foreign Service, the nation and, of course, anyone who knew him."